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(N0 Model.)

A. J. B. BERGER. CHAIN GONVEYER FOR HANDLING GOAL. No. 391,223.

Patented Oct. 16, 1888.

IIVVEIVTOR,

WITNESSfS:

ATTORNEY,

I1v PEIERB. Hwwmm n mr. Wahingum, 5.6.

UNITED STATES ATENT Fries,

' JAMES M. DODGE, OF SAME PLACE.

CHAIN CONVEYER FOR HANDLING COAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 110,391,223, dated October 16, 1888. Application filed Dccrmhcrll, 1887. Serial No. 258,019. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be itknown that I, AMBROSE J. B. BERGER, of Philadelphia,iu the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Chain Couveyers for Handling Coal,&c.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this application.

My invention relates to a new and useful im; provement in that type or class of chainconveyers in which a conveyerchain with projectingflights iscombined with some sort of carriertrough within which the flights travel and on the floor of which rests the material to be scraped or carried along by said flights, and more particularly to that species of this chain conveyer in which the conveyertrough and conveyer-chain are translated from a horizontal into an obliquely ascending direction for the purpose of carrying or conveying the coal or other material from a given level of supply or feed to some elevated destination.

In this type and species of chain conveyer serious difficulty has often been encountered by reason of the liability of pieces of the material getting wedged between thelower or work ing edges of the flights of the conveyer-chain and the floor orbottom of the box or trough of the conveyer at the locality or localities at which the conveyor-chain passes beneath and partially around the periphery of the chainwheel or chain-wheels over which the conveyer-chain travels; and to partially overcome or avoid the evil consequences of the presence of any particles or pieces of material between the workingedges of the flights and the bottom of the conveyer-trough it has heretofore been customary to mount the chain-wheel or chain-wheels just above referred to in slightlyyielding boxes, so that said wheel or wheels, under the circumstancesjust mentioned, will be free to riseslightly to preventany breakage 4.5 of the parts by reason of any such clogging by the material being conveyed. This arrangement of the wheel or wheels, however, has only partially overcome the difficulty alluded to, and as a partial remedy for such difficulty it possesses an inherent disadvantage with reference to the chaiuwheel which may be located at the point where the direction of the conveyerchain is translated from a horizontal to an obliquely ascending one, since the draft strain on the ascending portion of the conveyer-chain tends of course to lift said chainwheel and any elevationoccasioned by this natural tendency operates to lift the workingedges of the flights slightly away from the floor of the conveyor trough at this point and to thus permit the accidental passage and lodgrnent beneath the flights, while lifted,of particles of material being conveyed,which leads to serious difficulty.

I propose by my invention to provide for use a chain eonveyer of the type alluded to in which there will be no liability practically of any lodgment or passage of the material being conveyed between the lower or working edges of the flights and the floor of the trough on which said edges are designed to run; and to this main end and object my invention may be said to consist, essentially,in the combination, with the usual chain conveyor and wheels of this type of machine, (whether one or all of 7 the wheels be mounted adj ustably or not,) of a trough formed or provided with elastic or yielding bottom portions at the vicinity of those portions of the chain conveyor which run over or in connection with the wheel or wheels of the conveyor, all as will be hereinafter more fully explained,and as will be more particularly pointed out and specifically defined in the claims of this specification.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my improvement relates to make and use a chainconvcyer embracing my invention, I will now proceed to more fully describe the latter, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, 0 and in which I have shown my invention carried out in that form of apparatus in which I have so far practically embodied it and suc cessfully used it.

In the drawings, Figure l is a partial sec- 5 tional elevation of a chain conveyer made according to my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged view,of a similar character, of a portion of the apparatus seen at Fig. 1, showing only one of the chaiawheels and that portion of the [O0 conveyer-chain trough which embraces the novel feature of construction in the latter, and

drawn on a scale sufficiently large to better show the details of construction with reference to the yielding or movable trough-bottom. Fig. 3 is a partial top view of the same.

In theseveral figures the same parts will be found designated by the same letters of reference.

A and B are respectively two of the chainwheels or sprocket-wheels, beneath and partially around which travels the chain or chain belt 0, from which project, in the usual manner, the flights a, each of said wheels in the case shown having its axle mounted in upwardly-yielding boxes. As will beseen by reference to the drawings, the shaft a of-the wheel B, for instance, is mounted in sliding boxes 00, which yield vertically and upwardly against the tension of suitable springs, 3 whi ch springs are compressed, in the usual manner, between the upper surfaces of the sliding boxes and the under sides of the ordinary capplates of the metallic box-frames z.

Dis the box or trough of the conveyer, into which the material is supposed to be discharged or to enter, (at the locality marked E, or elsewhere,) and within which it is carried along by the flights c of the conveyer-chain in the direction indicated by the arrows and, as shown, from the horizontal portion of said trough into and upwardly through the ob liquely-ascending portion to any desired elevated destination or point of discharge. Instead of having this conveyer-trough made after the fashion followed in making it previous to my invention Ifornu or'provide said trough, as shown, at those portions which lie some distance vertically beneath the wheels A and B with yielding or movable bottom portions, e andf, each of which is secured at one of its edges to the floor of said trough, and is constructed or arranged, as clearly illustrated, so as to spring upwardly and tend to keep against the working-edges of the flights c as the latter pass around and beneath the wheels A and B, and to follow up and keep in contact with the workingedges of such flights in the event of any elevation or lifting (from any cause whatever) of the said chain-wheelsand the chainconveyer running in connection with them. In the case shown both of these wheels A and B are capable of a slight upward movement from their lowermost or normal position by reason of having their j ournalboxes mounted movably in the box-frames or stands in the usual manner of sliding journal-boxes; but, as will be presently explained, in carrying my invention into effect this yielding capacity of either one or both of the said wheels is not an indispensable element of the machine herein shown and described.

As shown, the yielding portions 0 andf of the conveyer-trough floor or bottom are composed of sheet-metal pieces, each of which is secured at one end by bolts S to the permanent or unyielding portion of the conveyer-trough plate or bar, tending always to rise and assume a straight condition. i

As will be readily understood, there is necessarily a greater tendency or opportunity for particles of the. material being conveyed to get wedged beneath the lower or working edges of the flights c at the portion E of the conveyer'trough when the material enters there than at any other point, since, in order to afford an opportunity for the reception or feeding in of the material at this locality, the floor of the trough must necessarily run off divergcntly from the circle which marks the path of motion of the working-edges of the flights c, as they travel into operative coaction with the trough D and its contents. Therefore, the

principal function and effect of the yielding.

and spring-like portion f of the conveyertrough with its tendency to assume a straight condition are merely, first, to prevent, to the greatest possible degree, the passage of any lumps or particles of material beneath the working-edges of the flights c as they take hold of the material conveyed in at the point E; and, second, to prevent any damage by any particle which may possibly get wedged beneath the lower edge of a flight and the bottom of the trough, at this locality, by yielding downwardly under such circumstances and thus afiording an opportunity for the particles or lumps of material to. pass along with the rest of the mass being conveyed beneath the chain-wheel B, (whether its axle-box be upwardly yielding or not,) beyond which point, of course, (.until the chain conveyer arrives at the locality of the wheel A,) the chain and its flights are free to rise (more or less) to accommodate the presence of any particles which may be traveling along with the rest of the mass but located beneath the working edge or edges of any flight or flights.v It is, however, deemed preferable to 'have the wheel B capa ble of a slight yielding upwardly bodily to further facilitate the passage along of any material which may have traveled beneath the working-edge of any flight or flights during the ingress of the material to the conveyertrough. The yielding bottom piece, a, performs substantially the same function as that off, with reference to yielding downwardly to accommodate any particles of material that may be dislodged between its upper surface and the lower or working edges of the flights a, whether the chain-wheel A be upwardly yielding bodily or not; but in the case of this wheel A being upwardly yielding, (which is the preferable way of arranging it,) then the yielding bottom piece, e, performsthe additional function of following up or keeping close to the lower working-edges of the flightsc whenever by undue draft strain of the ascending portion of the conveyer-chain the wheelA is lifted more or less, thus preventing any passage backwardly by gravity and beneath the working-edge of any one of the flights of bottom, and is arranged and acts like aspring l any particle or particles of the material being IIO forced upwardly within or carried along on the obliquely-ascending portion of the conveyertrongh D. This yielding bottom piece, 0, therefore involves a somewhat different mode of operation from the one shown atfiand performs, in conjunction with the yielding wheel A, a function supplemental to any performed by the devicef combined with the wheel B, since in the case of the latter wheel thereis no tendency exerted by-the draft strain of the conveyer-chain to lift said wheel from its lowermost or normal position.

Of coursethe precise details of construction as well as the sizes, proportions, and particular arrangement ofall theparts ofthe novel conveyer-machineshown may be more orless moditied or varied withoutdeparting from thespirit of my invention; and wishing it to be under stood that the yielding bottom pieces, 0 andf, combined, as shown, respectively, with that one of the chain-wheels which the draft strain of the chain is liable to lift, (when said wheel is made bodily yielding upwardly,) and with the wheel B. which, if made upwardly yielding, is never lifted by the draft strain of the conveyer-chain, may be either separately or jointly used with corresponding results and advantages in each case.

XVhat I claim as new, and'desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination with the conveyer-chain provided with suitable flights, the trough in which said flights travel, and the chain-wheel or ch ain-wheels, around which travels the said conveyer-chain, the yielding bottom piece, f, the whole arranged and operating together in substantially the manner and for the purpose described.

2. In a chain conveyer having an ascending or obliquely arranged trough and conveyerchain portion, the combination, with the said conveyer-chain and the chain-wheel A,located where the direction of travel of said chain changes from a horizontal to an obliquely ascending one, of a conveyer-trough provided with the yielding and following-up device 0, the whole arranged and operating together substantially as and for the purpose explained.

3. In combination with the upwardly-yielding chain-wheel A and a chain conveyer passing beneath the same in the manner shown, the conveyer-trough provided with the yielding bottom portion or follower, c, the whole A. J. B. BERGER.

In presence of- JAMES M. DODGE, Gno. M. BAKER. 

